Wednesday, 26 August 2009

borders of Russia / Demographics

Last question in the Radio to a leader of the opposition:(which said overall a lot of smart and democratic stuff in the interview.)

Moderator: 'In what borders do you see Russia'

Opposition leader: 'UDSSR minus the Baltics States'

Puh, and this is the liberal, democratic opposition…..Together with some recent Russian legislation and statements I have a gut feeling that there will be more conflicts like the Georgian - Russian one (2008) in the next decade.

It’s not a question of the Russia government. It’s a question how the Russian people understand themselves and how they see their neighbors and other countries. I face myself all the time (as German) a Russian legislation that is horribly xenophobic. It is much harder to get a proper legal status in Russia as a German then it is the other way around. (Honestly, at least 10 times harder and 30 times more expensive.). Then consider that the Germans in Moscow gain and behave different than some(!) of the Russians in Germany (social wellfare, mafia, …)

Great perspective for a country that is supposed to loose 30% of the population till 2050. And this is not not a speculation, it is a fact. It’s just a simple counting as that who lives in 2050 is already born today.

1 comment:

Pavel
said...

You mix a lot of different things together and in the result a very strange post.

1. Anyone can say something stupid and why this should be a general opinion of the democratic opposition?(and btw, if yo quote someone, please, give the name too - it usually looks quite fishy otherwise).

2. Russian legislation IS a questionof the Russian goverment.

3. I didn't quite get the comparison germans in Russiaand russians in Germany (which is altogether meaningless).

About this blog

This blog is a close up on Russia and the CIS. I am not giving you the big picture.I would anyway fail. I am too long here. So beauty & decay, education & corruption, high culture & kafka-style administration are meanwhile normal for me.So this blog is like a painting from from Roy Lichtenstein... when you are with your nose on it :) You will just see the dots, not gaining any understanding of the whole.

Most things will look strange in this blog. But you can be sure, I would not live here, if there would not be a lot of great things here. Unfortunately, the weired stories are more interesting to tell & read.Don’t judge Russia on this blog, if you want to know the country, come over and take a look by your own.